Just a Game
by MrsKBlack
Summary: He was Sirius Black she was Lori Boden. He was the biggest playboy and she was the biggest girl equivalent and up until now it had all been Just a Game


'I think Black's beating you in number of second halves so far this year' Lily said nodding her head toward the entrance to the great hall where Sirius had entered with a young blonde Ravenclaw attached to his hip, yet another new girl.

My eyes zeroed in on him glancing at the arrogant smirk on his face that said "I am the shit" one I often wore myself and often wore better. I would feel sorry for the girl trying to touch every square inch of his skin, they all seem to think that they will be the ones to change him but he always ends up messing them around then dumping them like he's done the rest. I would feel sorry but I do exactly the same thing. What no one seems to understand is that people like Sirius and I cannot be changed, our outward beauty tells a lie of a messed up mind. Our stories are so alike.

'Give me time to catch up guys before writing me off' I said slyly batting my eyelashes at the passing Hufflepuff quidditch captain so much so that his attention was so much on me that he walked into a first year who had just got up knocking them both to the floor 'I'll beat him in the _real_ game'

'Any progress on that?' Bella asked sniggering as I swept a hand through my honey blonde hair so it shimmered down my back, something I did often much the adulation of my adoring audience

'He's an expert' I said leaning forward so that no other Gryffindors could hear us and let my hair swing forward hiding my face from the marauders sitting further down the table 'he knows all the tricks in the book'

'So why don't you just give it up' Lily said exasperatedly she wasn't the greatest fan of my favourite, what I liked to call, hobby but hey I had a talent and I sure as hell was going to do something about it, apart from my looks there wasn't much else going for me

'I said he knew all the tricks in the _book_ I didn't say he knew all the tricks in _my_ book and believe me there is a distinct difference' I raised my perfectly maintained eyebrows at the three girls surveying me with a slight awe and then Sara ruined it by chuckling and ruffling my hair slightly

'You do provide me with much amusement Lori' Sara patted her own cropped brown locks and smiled again 'makes up for the sadness of my life'

'What's the plan then?' Julie said picking up a bread roll from the waiting tray and surveying me with her astoundingly blue eyes, always spoke it as it is that girl and didn't judge

'You'll have to wait and see' I said and then leaning forwards once again whilst I licked my lips 'but let's just say it's going to go down at Slughorn's Christmas party tonight after I pick myself a suitable date' I let out a dirty laugh and rolled my head on my shoulders as if limbering up for a fight. No need to pick a date until the day when you knew that all the boys would drop whoever they had asked if I wanted to go with them, a useful tool

'You won't pick James will you?' Lily asked nervously, being overprotective of James ever since she had agreed to go to Slughorn's party with him probably weeks ago now without admitting she found him a lot more than "bearable" as she had put it to us in the dorm

'Been there done that' I said rolling my eyes and leaning back on the bench to look up and down the table. I'd actually gone out with James Potter at the beginning of last year, our sixth year, rather than loving him and leaving him, as I put it, like I had done with many others, we'd actually lasted until Valentine's day, my longest relationship, when it became blatantly clear to me he was still in love with Lily and I was definitely not the one going to be spurned when he left me for Lily. So what if I had broken up with him and left him alone in Madame Puddifoot's tea shop actually on Valentine's day, he knew what he had coming when we first started going out.

That was when the _real_ game had started in earnest, since I was no longer dating his best friend and we were both single. What is the real game? I hear you ask yourself, well, it's easily explained. Every year since fourth year thereabouts Sirius and I had tried to outdo each other with the amount of "other halves" we could have in one year, quickly gaining ourselves reputations as the biggest playboy and girl alternative in the school, repetitions of going out with one person more than one time in a year didn't count. After that had happened was when the real game had reared its head, we both decided that the ultimate notch in our bed post, so to speak, was getting the other into bed and then abandoning them in their dorm and quickly spreading word through the school to gain a further accolade as virtual king/queen as we liked to put it and resigning the other to wallow in what had been. We were kind of friends, don't get me wrong, but in the backs of our minds we were always wondering whether the other had ulterior motives in their conversation. There had been several attempts at winning throughout the last year, most recently at the Halloween feast when Sirius had brazenly tried to seduce me without a drop of alcohol….in the middle of the Great Hall….in the middle of Dumbledore's speech, not a smart move.

As I looked in the mirror I had to smile at my reflection, I didn't revel in the fact that I probably appeared to be an arrogant bitch to most people considering I was the female version of Sirius Black, but I had to say to myself I was looking hot. The strapless black dress that was hitched up a bit at one side showed my naturally tanned legs off to a T with the corseted top part squeezing in any un-wanted rolls

As if echoing my thoughts Sara muttered from behind me 'I literally hate how good you are at choosing the perfect dress' Sara and Julie were watching me and Lily get ready for Slughorn's bash, they weren't in the "Slug Club" and hadn't been invited by anyone, shame really I like having my friends around me and they really were quite pretty, coming from me that's a huge complement with my wealth of experience

'Who'd you pick as worthy?' Julie asked looking up from her copy of _Witch Weekly_

'Joey Evans, Ravenclaw quidditch captain' I responded automatically and then looked down at the slender silver watch, which I realised James had bought me for me Christmas the year before 'meeting him there though, that way I only have to spend minimum time with him providing maximum opportunity to put my plan into effect' I winked at the watching room and dragged a hand through my curls

Lily rolled her eyes again and then started to pull me towards the door 'you can be insufferable sometimes Lori' she continued holding my arm all the way down the stairs and until she saw James waiting in the common room then she squealed, yes squealed, and practically ran up to him throwing her arms around his neck

I say she saw just James but she must have seen Remus accompanied by a Hufflepuff girl and Sirius brooding handsomely by himself, as they were standing right next to Potter. I rolled my eyes at the other boys and we followed James and Lily out of the common room. We stayed silent for the whole way to one of the larger dungeons where the party was to take place, Sirius didn't enquire why I didn't have a date with me and I didn't ask him why he didn't have one, we were both working from the same book and the same unspoken "rules" there was no point making small talk. Once we arrived at the party I went off to find Joey, not hard since he seemed to be waiting for me and to show me off apparently to anyone who would bloody listen. Couldn't one boy play it cool and be quiet about it?

'Look Lori mistletoe' Joey boomed in a loud voice glancing around the room to see who had heard and then back at my face hopefully, there was a clear circle of people standing a metre away from us watching for my next move wondering if I really had got _that_ easy. I hadn't and I won't.

I rolled my eyes, he obviously hadn't understood that _I _was the one who controlled situations you think they would've figured it out from the amount of times I've broken hearts and not had mine broken 'Joey, Joey, Joey' I placed my hands on his toned chest and leant in so I could put my mouth to his ear 'that isn't how things work' I placed a light peck on his ear and then walked off leaving him shocked under the mistletoe with several people snickering at him

I grabbed a glass of champagne off the passing tray of a house-elf and retreated to the far wall from where I could watch the on-going party and try to see where my chosen victim (Sirius Black) had got to, as far as I was concerned this was one of my more brilliant plans. I spotted him chatting airily to Professor Slughorn and one of Slughorn's supposedly famous old pupils although 90% of the time no one had heard of them, this really was making my job too easy. Making a beeline for them I dropped off my empty glass at the same time as picking up two new ones in one hand, balance was another of my fortes.

'Oh hello Lorianna' Slughorn slurred as he shook my hand and pushing me slightly into the space between him and Sirius 'hope you are well' he didn't wait for an answer but launched into a long winded discussion about how he could always get free tickets to an Irish quidditch match because he had taught the captain. I looked up at Sirius and he raised his eyebrows at me as if to mentally express his boredness that I too was experiencing. Perfect timing as always, I mentally complimented myself.

'Professor do you mind if I speak to Sirius a second' I said sweetly placing a hand lightly on Sirius' forearm careful to not press to firm, that would give away the game

Slughorn nodded his head and waved us off, I smiled and withdrew back to where I had come from and turned round glad to find Sirius following me. I took a deep breath as his steel grey eyes swept me up and down lingering on my shown leg, well boys will be boys whether their Sirius Black or not.

'I genuinely have to thank you for getting me out of that Lori' he said smirking and running a calloused hand through his shiny ebony hair and then down his chiselled and defined jaw. A girl was allowed to lust.

I smiled at him and turned my body so it was facing his 'I could feel your pain from here' I said chuckling and then held out one of the glasses I was carrying 'I got two for Joey and I but he seems to have buggered off' I smiled again as he took the glass and took a pensive sip as I pretended to look concernedly around the room

'Not surprised after the stunt you pulled under the mistletoe' he was grinning at me from under his lashes and drained the last of his glass 'Impressive really'

I shrugged draining the last of my glass as well 'he wasn't exactly approaching it in the best way' I sighed dragging a hand through my blonde hair pulling on one of my natural curls knowing he would've done exactly the same thing. In the same book and on the same page, using the same tricks. Well apart from the ones I was about to pull out tonight.

'Looks like we could both do with some more champagne' he whisper shouted and I couldn't help but let out a smile as he pulled out his wand and refilled our glasses. He was making executing my plan a whole lot easier as time went on.

We stood there chatting about inane matters for at least half an hour occasionally laughing at James and Lily who were both looking nervous as they kissed underneath the mistletoe more than once, it seemed the mistletoe was enchanted and had decided to follow them wherever they danced. It was getting late and according to my plan this seemed like the perfect time to detach him from the rest of the party.

I waved my hand in front of my face as if I was trying to cool myself 'Sirius do you mind if I go outside' I said trying to smile as innocently as I could 'It's a bit hot in here and I get faint' I silently thanked got that I had evidence that backed me up, me fainting in defence in the first lesson back, more due to the fact I'd missed breakfast than anything else but he didn't need to know that

'Sure' he said smiling and took my glass and put it on the ground along with his 'I'll take you out' I smiled sweetly and he put his hand at the small of my back as he led me out the room, his touch was nice in a gentle way but I was the one supposedly in control and I brushed in front of him to ensure he understood this subconsciously at least

I hadn't realised how hot I actually was until I made it to the cool corridor beyond the door and condensation began to form at the nape of my neck and on my palms. I rested my back against the stone wall opposite the door letting the coolness of the stone seep through the material of my dress as Sirius made his way out to stand opposite me. I blinked slowly and dragged a hand through my hair with my eyes closed as if I was trying to cool down.

'You alright Lori?' he'd come a step closer and was looking at me quizzically, ah he was worried time for step two pretend to almost faint

I nodded gently and then let gravity take control and let my body drop towards the floor but before I hit the flagstones I felt strong muscly arms enclose my body and hold me for a minute before pulling me back up.

'I feel stupid for asking again but are you alright Lori?' he grinned at me with his arms still tight around my waist as support

I looked up surveying the slight curl in his ebony hair and the small scar on his forehead from a firework prank him and James had tried to pull off, and brought my arms up, which had been hanging by my side, and put them lightly around his neck. I made sure I was locking his silver grey eyes with my striking light brown ones and brought my lips to within millimetres of his 'much better now' I closed the gap and touched my lips to his lightly

That was key make sure he kissed me back first, I wasn't disappointed he squeezed me tighter and deepened the kiss letting his tongue trace along my bottom lip I parted my lips, playing my part well. Within seconds I felt my back make contact with the corridor stone wall and one of his hands traced patterns on my thigh as the other rested at the bottom of my back trying to bring me closer, no point resisting with such a knowing touch.

It carried on heatedly like this until he suddenly pulled away smirking placing his hand lightly on my hips 'however much I enjoyed this' he motioned his hands between us 'I don't think I could let you win' he leant forward and lightly pecked my cheek before walking straight back into the party. Bloody foiled again.

Lily, Sara and Julie gasped as I finished my story of my failed attempt to seduce Sirius. We were all sat on my bed in the dormitory after Lily and I had returned from the party and helpfully we were surrounded by our collective stash of Honeyduke's chocolate, a surprisingly large amount as it turned out

'What happened to "he doesn't know _my_ tricks"?' Julie asked forming quotation marks with her fingers

'Don't' I moaned leaning back on my pillow hoping against hope that he didn't tell the other marauders tonight knowing full well he would whatever I felt

'he obviously went out and bought a copy of your book' Sara said trying and failing not to laugh I resisted the attempt to throw my pillow at her and shot her a scathing look before trying to shove a chocolate frog in my mouth before it jumped away

'Don't you ever think that doing this will end badly' Lily said nibbling on a square of caramel

'Doing what?' I said raising my head slightly from my pillows of shame

'You know' she waved her hands to try and express herself 'snogging Sirius for fun, to win a "game"?'

I sat up and picked up the pillow I'd been laying my head on and hit her with it 'nope, when I wake up in the morning all the shame will have drifted away and the snogging is definitely worth it' I earnt a chorus of "oohs" at this point 'it really is a shame snogging talent like that is wasted on a boy like him'

'The shame is really going to go that fast?' Sara asked cocking an eyebrow at me knowing full well when I lied

'Of course bloody not' I said laughing as the other girls started too 'Think I'll think of trying to beat him again after Christmas'

'Not the Yule Ball then?' Julie asked through a mouthful of chocolate cauldron

'Nah I'll let it mellow'

I examined my reflection and flattened out a crease in my red halterneck dress, another perfect choice I mentally congratulated myself. Primping my hair to make sure my honey blonde curls hung perfectly around my face I finished the look off with some clear lip-gloss and headed to the common room to meet the others.

'God your vain' Sara said rolling her eyes as she spotted me from her lazy perch on one of the armchairs

Sara, Lily and Julie rose from their chairs and we continued out of the portrait. We had decided as a dorm to have no official dates as such, not that it would mean much we all knew Lily would run to James as soon as we entered the Great Hall. I was browsing as such, if an eligible man presented himself then I would take that opportunity, but I would be making no attempts to win the game. I still hadn't fully devised another plan and if Sirius _had_ told the other marauders then the banter would be too much to handle

I was sitting at the bar that had been erected off to one side, alone, the others had gone off to dance with one good looking guy or another and I had decided, not from lack of offers, but to drink my night away. Something in me wasn't sitting right and I wasn't quite sure what.

'Hey, Lori, isn't it?'

I looked up at the sound of the gravelly voice and came face to face with a brown haired Ravenclaw boy I recognised from their quidditch team. Not bad looking, nice eyes, just boring, and he was a terrible liar. Everyone knew who I was and everyone knew my name, but credit to the boy for trying to be original in the approach

'Yeah'

'Ben Walker' he held out his hand but retracted it after I had stared at it for a while, not through rudeness as I usually had but through shock, God he _was_ being original and polite. 'I wondered if you wanted to dance' he looked nervous and had shoved both his hands back in his pocket

'I don't dance' I said carelessly although if his mind slipped back to last year's ball I'm sure he would remember James and I showing off our waltzing talent, hopefully he'd get the hint

'Oh' he turned away from the bar and frowned at nothing in particular 'I'll get you a drink then'

He had gone from promising to awful in a matter of seconds. He could've just said "I'll sit here for a chat" or "I'll just sit here" but when I am holding a glass full of firewhiskey I am _never_ going to accept another drink. Someone needed to teach boys observation

'She's already got a drink Ben' a rather familiar voice drawled and I turned round to see Sirius walk up to the bar and stand beside me

'Oh' Ben was still sitting in his chair staring helplessly and lustfully at me as if I would fling myself into his arms

Sirius raised an eyebrow at him and then yanked on my hand so hard I had no choice but to follow him. He led me through the crowd of dancers and past the tables which we had eaten at earlier, through the door and into the empty entrance hall decorated with Christmas decorations

'What do you want Black?' I was slightly peeved at being torn away from my people watching and from my lovely firewhiskey

'Saving you from the clutches of the desperate' he smirked at me and walked to sit on the stairs patting the space next to him for me to sit down

I sat next to him and placed my hands in my lap looking with my head turned sideways to speak to him 'Okay. What are we doing out here then?' my words came out slightly slurred and I cursed the double shots of firewhiskey I'd been drinking all evening

'You don't miss a trick do you?' Sirius said chuckling his bark like laugh and threw an arm around my shoulders

'Nope I know them all' I said confidently smiling as I did so

'We need to talk'

'We do?' I asked questioningly as I felt my eyebrows furrowing of their own accord and reached a hand upwards to try and straighten them out

'Slughorn's party' he paused and looked away from me and retracted his arm rom my shoulder 'And that kiss'

I nodded and smiled at his serious expression 'well done on catching me out'

'That's the thing Lori' he turned his head to look at me when he said my name and picked up the hand that was massaging my eyebrows and also the one that was closest to him 'that wasn't just a kiss'

His steel grey eyes looked soft and in my slightly inebriated state he looked almost loveable so when he leant in and pressed his lips to mine I didn't resist or slap him round the face as I might've done or as I had done when he had tried it on at the Halloween feast.

'And neither was that' he said when he pulled away smiling

All of a sudden I was overcome by an emotion I don't feel all that often. Lust but not normal lust _powerful_ lust. I reached up and entwined my hand in his hair and pulled his head towards mine so that are lips met in a frenzied and passionate kiss. My other hand latched around his neck and one of his brought my legs up so I was sitting in his lap, definitely easier. With his hands clasped around my waist we sat there snogging passionately for what, for all I knew, could've been hours.

He pulled away first and his eyes were darker as they studied my face 'come on' he said huskily and pulling me by the hand he led me up the enchanted stairs, through the Gryffindor common room, up the boy's stairs and into his dorm

I didn't really care what the time was but all I knew was that the pain ripping through my head was threatening to make me puke. I could feel the sunlight through my eyelids and it wasn't helping matters. Then I had a jolted thought, where my bed was in the dorm meant I shouldn't see the sun rise. My eyes flew open as I tried to adapt to my surroundings and then memories of last night flew straight back into my head. Of him mumbling how sexy I was as he removed my dress and me saying how sexy he was as I took his shirt off. I looked with half-hearted hope to my right but there was no one there and as I looked round the dorm none of the other marauders were there either. I only really had myself to blame, he really had beaten me with the whole "that wasn't just a kiss" crap. I quickly located my clothes and got out of there as soon as I could while a little shred of my dignity was still intact. However small it was.

_Sirius_

I stood in the shower and let the steaming hot water roll over my body. I had done it without really realising what I was doing. I only had fuzzy memories mostly of what happened after we got back to my dorm which were all definitely good memories. But I'd won. I'd been trying to win for the best part of two years. Not whilst she was dating Prongs because he would've killed me if I had. I'd won. Somehow it didn't sit so happily with me and the feeling of elation we had often discussed coming with the ultimate prize still hadn't hit me. I closed my eyes and started to think again, this could make me the ultimate playboy and yet deep down I knew that wasn't exactly what I wanted. What I really wanted was to be able to kiss her without the worry of some stupid kind of bet. Shit. My eyes flew open as I grabbed my towel off the back of the door to wrap around my waist even though she had seen everything already, I the open the bathroom door in mild hope she would be waiting. It was empty and my bed lay unoccupied and her clothes had gone. She thought I had done it for the game, she was going to hate me forever and never speak to me again. Double shit. But what more could I have asked her to think after all, up to that point it had all been just a game.

**A/N this is just something silly I thought up Read/review and if you have time please read my other story 'Change, chance and confusion'. I'm new at fanfiction **


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